Wedding Ceremony

Your wedding ceremony makes your marriage and the rights and obligations associated with it real in a romantic and legal sense. Some couples plan their wedding ceremony and reception on the same day. Of course, it is also possible to schedule the wedding ceremony on a separate day from your actual wedding celebration.
When we talk about a wedding ceremony, there are three possibilities: a church ceremony, a civil ceremony or a nondenominational, 'free' wedding ceremony.

Religious Ceremony

You want to have a religious ceremony in addition to the civil ceremony? Depending on your faith, the first point of contact to make arrangements for your wedding in the church will be your local parish office. There you will receive further information regarding reserving an appointment, associated costs and requirements that must be met. If you would like a Catholic wedding ceremony in Munich, you will find the most important information for contacting your local parish office to arrange this here.
To arrange your protestant wedding ceremony, you can find the relevant information on this website.

Both the Catholic and Protestant wedding ceremonies usually last around 40 minutes and include the following elements, among others: Entry of the bride and groom into the church accompanied by music, an opening prayer, a greeting of the guests present, a sequence of prayers, readings, intercessions and songs, followed by the wedding ceremony with the questioning of the bride and groom and the exchange of rings, further blessings and finally the exit from the church accompanied by music.

Civil Ceremony

The civil marriage ceremony is the prerequisite for an official and legally valid marriage in Germany. A prerequisite to book your civil marriage ceremony and obtaining an appointment at the registry office is submitting a registration for your marriage tot he registry office. This can be done six months before the marriage date at the earliest. Registration is only possible if both spouses have registered their main or secondary residence in Munich.

The wedding hall in Mandlstraße, the meeting room in the New Town Hall and in Nymphenburg Palace are three special wedding halls that are very popular with couples in Munich. The wedding dates for these three locations can be requested online, but they are then allocated by raffle due to the high demand.

The civil wedding ceremony must take place in designated rooms and usually lasts between 20 and 30 minutes.
You can roughly imagine the civil wedding ceremony as follows:
Before entering the wedding hall, the personal details of the bride and groom and the witnesses are taken. The registrar then welcomes those present. After a short speech, the bride and groom are asked whether they wish to enter into marriage with each other, followed by the optional symbolic exchange of rings and the first kiss as a married couple. (Musical accompaniment can be provided and has to be arranged for in advance.) The couple's details are entered in the marriage register and read out, followed by the signing of the couple's names, the witnesses and the registrar. The ceremony ends with short words of congratulations.
You can find more information about civil wedding ceremonies in Munich here.

Freie Trauung

The non-denominational wedding ceremony is a freely designed ceremony that celebrates your love. You can focus on what is important to you. You are completely free to choose the location, duration, content and setting for the ceremony. The wedding ceremony can be tailored to your individual needs so that it reflects what is important to you as a couple. For example, you may want to highlight important challenges you have conquered, funny moments and beloved experiences in your shared history to make the ceremony personal and unforgettable. It is common for the free wedding ceremony to be conducted by a wedding officiant. There are a variety of experienced, professional wedding officiants who are available to create your ceremony for you. I have researched ten professional wedding speakers online, all of whom are available for your free wedding ceremony in Munich and the surrounding area.

You can also take a look at this website, or search for a suitable wedding officiant for your wedding ceremony on this page or this one.
Of course, you also have the option of asking a family member or a good friend to be your wedding officiant.
Just a side note: you are not legally married until after the civil ceremony took place.

Wedding Vows

Many couples, especially in the US, choose to exchange wedding vows during the wedding ceremony in front of their guests to profess their love for each other. If that is something you are considering doing, you can find a guide to writing your vows here.